Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil (or, the evil one) Luke 11:4

What we are
taught to seek or shun in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action.
Very earnestly, therefore, should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so
guardedly in the path of obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt
us. We are not to enter the thicket in search of the lion.

Dearly
might we pay for such presumption. This lion may cross our path or leap upon us
from the thicket, but we have nothing to do with hunting him. He that meeteth
with him, even though he winneth the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the
Christian pray that he may be spared the encounter. Our Saviour, who had
experience of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished His
disciples­'Pray that ye enter not into temptation.'

But let us do as
we will, we shall be tempted; hence the prayer 'deliver us from evil.' God had
one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation. The natural man is
born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, and the Christian man is born to
temptation just as certainly. We must be always on our watch against Satan,
because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of his approach.

Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan, know that there are
certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at certain
seasons bleak winds may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard
by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it.

Prevention is better than cure: it is better to be so well armed
that the devil will not attack you, than to endure the perils of the fight, even
though you come off a conqueror. Pray first that you may not be tempted, and
next that if temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil one.
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Yours in Christ, Paul N. F.